Open Primaries

Thursday, February 23, 2012

South Dakota House Bill 1182 Unfair to Independent Candidates

Why are counties not in planning districts? (LETTER Rapid City Journal by Kim Wright, South Dakota Voice of Independents, Rapid City) House Bill 1182 unfair to independent
candidatesHouse Bill 1182 seeks to revise the filing
deadline for the nomination of certain independent candidates. The
proposed revision reduces the timeline for independent candidates
to circulate nomination petitions for public office.

When Rep. Mark Kirkeby introduced this bill in the House State
Affairs Committee, he explained that there is a growing number of
South Dakota voters registering as Independent. This is a national
trend.
Currently the percent of registered independent voters exceeds the
percent of voters registered with either of the major
parties.

When asked his rationale for introducing this bill limiting the
time frame for independent candidates to collect signatures, secure
campaign resources and engage voters, Rep. Kirkeby responded that
it was an issue of “fairness.”

I did not have an opportunity to ask for clarification of “fair.”
If considering the concept of fairness, I would ask Rep. Kirkeby:
Is it fair that Independent candidates must collect considerably
more signatures than their major party opponents in order to seek
public office? How fair is it that registered Independent voters
are denied the right to vote in primary elections?

I would suggest that the rationale for HB 1182 is much more about
maintaining political party control than about equitable
opportunities.